European Chamber of Ireland Completes Key Brexit Meetings

09.03.17

A delegation from the European Chamber of Ireland travelled to Brussels this week as part of an important Brexit engagement mission. The specific purpose of this two-day trip was to ensure that key EU decision-makers understand the challenges Brexit will present for businesses operating in Ireland.

The European Chamber of Commerce undertook a series of meetings to discuss issues of concern with the European Commission and MEPs from Ireland and Germany. The Chamber delegation also held separate meetings with the German EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger and the Irish EU Commissioner Phil Hogan.

The delegation presented the Commissioners with a recent Brexit report authored by DIT academic Dr Brian Murphy and leading German Chamber officials Ralf Lissek and Dr Volker Treier. This report warns that Brexit is likely to create significant job losses across a range of sectors in Ireland, damage growth and negatively impact the country's trade.

Speaking after the series of meetings in Brussels, the President and Patron of the European Chamber of Ireland Jack Golden said:

“Ireland and the UK trade over €1 billion worth of goods and services every week and over €60 billion per annum. As business leaders in Ireland, we underlined our concerns about the very real Brexit-related difficulties faced by businesses on the island of Ireland to key decision-makers in Brussels.

As the EU member state most connected with Britain, Ireland is at particular risk from the market volatility that Brexit is likely to bring in its wake and needs the full support of its EU partners to mitigate the impact of the UK leaving the EU. We wish to ensure that Ireland’s special circumstances are recognised in Brussels, Berlin and the other EU capitals and taken into account in the upcoming Brexit negotiations”.